India are going through a period of transition in Test cricket, but Cheteshwar Pujara will not accept it as an excuse for losing a Test at home.
After India lost their first Test to South Africa, collapsing to 93 all out in the final innings, Pujara questioned the India batters' approach on a pitch that had uneven bounce and turn from day one, but also said the batters were not the only ones to be blamed.
"I don't buy this that India are losing at home because of transition. I can't digest that," Pujara said on JioStar after India lost by 30 runs in Kolkata. "If you lose in England or Australia because of transition, it could be acceptable. But this team has the talent and potential. You look at the first-class record of all the players - Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill... Washy [Washington Sundar] batted at No. 3 in this game - all their records are so good. Still if you lose at home that means something is wrong.
"If you had played the same match on a good wicket, there were much better chances of [India] winning. How do you define Test cricket? On what kind of a wicket are your chances better of winning? On such tracks, your chances decrease and the opposition is at par with you. There's so much talent in India, even an India A side could beat South Africa. So if you say this loss is because of transition, it's not acceptable."
After the match, where 189 was the best innings total and only one half-century was scored largely due to the sharp turn, up-and-down bounce and rough patches that made batting a challenge, India head coach Gautam Gambhir had clarified that it was "exactly the pitch we were looking for".
Even though India have often preferred rank turners to gain their home advantage, their choice of such a track in the wake of the 3-0 whitewash to New Zealand at home last year and now this loss - their fourth in the last six home Tests - has raised questions.
Vernon Philander and Sanjay Bangar analyse how much of an impact the pitch had at Eden Gardens
"You can't just blame the batters on this kind of a wicket because firstly if you want to play on such wickets, your preparation has to be different," Pujara said. "Gauti bhai said they asked for this kind of a wicket but it wasn't easy to bat on. Look at the stats of both teams - only one batter scored a fifty so it shows it wasn't a good wicket.
"If you want to play on such tracks, your batters have to be prepared accordingly and it didn't look like they were prepared. On such wickets, you have to play different kind of shots, like rely more on sweeps, play a little positive, try to move the scoreboard. But there was an expectation that this wicket would be a bit decent, it would have some turn, and you can bat well and score runs. But this wicket wasn't like that. If the Indian team wants such turning wickets where the ball turns from ball one, then the batters' approach will have to be different."
That 3-0 last year had cost India a place in the WTC final and this defeat to South Africa has seen them slip to fourth position on the current WTC table, behind Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The second and final Test of the series begins on November 22 in Guwahati. After this series, India's next WTC series will be two matches in Sri Lanka in August next year. India's next home series is more than a year away from now, when they host Australia for five Tests in January-February 2027.